CONSTANCY-CONTEMPT.

CONSTANCY-continued.

O heaven! were man

89

But constant, he were perfect; that one error
Fills him with faults; makes him run through all sins
Sh. Two G. v. 4.

When all things have their trial, you shall find
Nothing is constant but a virtuous mind. Shirley, Wit. Fa.one.
Go, bid the needle its dear north forsake,

To which with trembling rev'rence it doth bend;
Go, bid the stones a journey upwards make;
Go, bid th' ambitious flames no more ascend;
And when these false to their old motions prove,
Then will I cease thee, thee alone, to love.
True constancy no time, no power can move;

Cowley.

He that hath known to change, ne'er knew to love. Gay, Dione.

I know thee constant.

Sooner I'll think the sun would cease to cheer
The teeming earth, and then forget to bear;
Sooner that rivers would run back, or Thames,
With ribs of ice in June, would bind his streams;

Or nature, by whose strength the world endures,

Would change her course before you alter yours. Dr. Johnson. Oh, the heart, that has truly lov'd, never forgets,

But as truly loves on to the close,

As the sun-flower turns on her god, when he sets,

The same look which she turn'd when he rose. Moore, Sunfl.

There is nothing but death Our affections can sever, And till life's latest breath Love shall bind us for ever. CONSUMMATION.

J. G. Percival.

'Tis a consummation

Sh. Ham. III. 1.

Devoutly to be wish'd.

CONTEMPLATION.

Fixed and contemplative their looks,
Still turning over nature's books.

Thus every object of creation

Can furnish hints for contemplation,
And from the most minute and mean,
A virtuous mind can morals glean.
CONTEMPT.

What valour were it, when a cur doth grin,
For one to thrust his hand between his teeth,
When he might spurn him with his foot away?

Denham.

Gay.

Sh. H. VI. 3. I. 4.

90

CONTEMPT-CONTENTMENT.

CONTEMPT-continued.

From no one vice exempt, And most contemptible to shun contempt.

Think not there is no smile

I can bestow upon thee. There is a smile,
A smile of nature too, which I can spare,
And yet, perhaps, thou wilt not thank me for it.

Shall it not be scorn to me

Pope.

Joanna Baillie, De Montford.

To harp on such a moulder'd string?
I am sham'd through all my nature
To have lov'd so slight a thing.

CONTENTION.

Sons and brothers at a strife!
What is your quarrel? how began it first?
-No quarrel, but a sweet contention.

Where two raging fires meet together,

Tennyson.

Sh. Hen. VI. 3. 1. 2.

They do consume the thing that feeds their fury:
Though little fire grows great with little wind,

Yet extreme gusts will blow out fire and all. Sh. Tam. S. II. 1.

CONTENTMENT.

He that commends me to mine own content,
Commends me to the thing I cannot get.

Sh.Com. E. 1. 2.

My crown is in my heart, not on my head;
Not deck'd with diamonds and Indian stones,
Nor to be seen: my crown is called content;
A crown it is, that seldom kings enjoy. Sh. Hen. VI. 3. III. 1.
Poor and content is rich, and rich enough;
But riches fineless is as poor as winter
To him that ever fears he shall be poor.
"Tis better to be lowly born,

And range with humble livers in content,
Than to be perk'd up in a glistering grief,
And wear a golden sorrow.

Much will always wanting be

Sh. Oth. III. 3.

Sh. Hen. VIII. II. 3.

To him who much desires. Thrice happy he
To whom the wise indulgency of heaven,
With sparing hand, but just enough has given.
Cellars and granaries in vain we fill

Cowley.

With all the bounteous summer's store,

If the mind thirst and hunger still:

The poor rich man's emphatically poor.

Cowley.

CONTENTMENT.

CONTENTMENT-continued.

Let's live with that small pittance which we have;

91

Who covets more, is evermore a slave. Herrick, Aph. 122. Who with a little cannot be content,

Endures an everlasting punishment. Herrick, Aph. 112.
I meddle with no man's business but my own;

I rise in the morning early, study moderately,
Eat and drink cheerfully, live soberly,
Take my innocent pleasures freely.

Since every man who lives is born to die,
And none can boast sincere felicity,
With equal mind what happens let us bear.
Nor grieve too much for things beyond our care.
Like pilgrims, to th' appointed place we tend;
The world's an inn, and death the journey's end.

Otway.

Dryden, Palamon and Arcite, 3.

Since all great souls still make their own content,
We to ourselves may all our wishes grant;
For nothing coveting, we nothing want.

Dryden.

They cannot want who wish not to have more:
Who ever said an anchoret was poor?

Dryden.

Content is wealth, the riches of the mind;

And happy he who can that treasure find.

Dryden.

Content thyself to be obscurely good:

When vice prevails, and impious men bear sway,
The post of honour is a private station.

Addison, Cato, IV.

The remnant of his days he safely past,

Nor found they lagg'd too slow, nor flew too fast;
He made his wish with his estate comply,
Joyful to live, yet not afraid to die.

Some place the bliss on action, some on ease;
Those call it pleasure, and contentment these..
Thrice happy they, the wise, contented poor,
From lust of wealth and dread of death secure;
They tempt no deserts, and no griefs they find;
Peace rules the day when reason rules the mind.
Happy the man who, void of cares and strife,
In silken or in leathern purse retains
A good old shilling.

Prior.

Pope.

Collins.

John Phillips, Splendid Shilling.

Man's rich with little, were his judgment true;
Nature is frugal, and her wants are few:

Those few wants answer'd, bring sincere delights;
But fools create themselves new appetites.

Young.

92

CONTENTMENT-CONTROVERSY.

CONTENTMENT-continued.

O, grant me, Heav'n, a middle state,
Neither too humble, nor too great ;
More than enough for nature's ends,
With something left to treat my friends.

Man wants but little here below,

Mallet.

Nor wants that little long. Goldsmith, V. of Wakefield, 8.

Happy the life, that in a peaceful stream,

Obscure, unnoticed through the vale has flow'd;

The heart that ne'er was charm'd by fortune's gleam
Is ever sweet contentment's blest abode.

This is the charm, by sages often told,

Converting all it touches into gold:

Content can soothe, where'er by fortune placed,
Can rear a garden in a desert waste.

He, fairly looking into life's account,

Saw frowns and favours were of like amount;
And viewing all-his perils, prospects, purse—
He said, "Content-'tis well it is no worse."
Think'st thou the man whose mansions hold
The worldling's pomp and miser's gold,
Obtains a richer prize

Than he who, in his cot at rest,

Finds heavenly peace a willing guest,
And bears the promise in his breast

Of treasure in the skies?

Percival

Kirke White.

Crabbe.

Mrs. Sigourney..

What tho' we quit all glitt'ring pomp and greatness,
The busy, noisy flattery of courts,

We shall enjoy content: in that alone

Is greatness, power, wealth, honour, all summ'd up.

CONTROVERSY.

Powell. King of Naples.

Soon their crude notions with each other fought;
The adverse sect denied what this had taught ;
And he, at length, the amplest triumph gained,
Who contradicted what the last maintained.
When subtle doctors scripture made their prize,
Casuists, like cocks, struck out each other's eyes.

He could raise scruples dark and nice,

And after solve 'em in a trice;

As if divinity had catch'd

Prior.

Denham.

The itch on purpose to be scratch'd. Butler, Hud. 1, 1. 163

CONTROVERSY

CONVERSATION.

93

CONTROVERSY-continued.
When civil dudgeon first grew high,
And men fell out, they knew not why;
When foul words, jealousies, and fears
Set folk together by the ears,

And made them fight, like mad or drunk,
For dame Religion, as for Punk.

Butler, Hud. 1, 1. 1.

Dryden.

Wild controversy then, which long had slept,

Into the press from ruined cloisters leapt.

The good old man, too eager in dispute,
Flew high; and as his christian fury rose,

Damn'd all for heretics who durst oppose. Dryden, Re. 237.

Destroy his fib, or sophistry, in vain ;
The creature's at his dirty work again.

Great contest follows, and much learned dust
Involves the combatants; each claiming truth,
And truth disclaiming both.

CONVERSATION.

Pope.

Cowper, Task, 111. 161.

Formed by thy converse, happily to steer

From grave to gay, from lively to severe. Pope, E. M. Iv. 379.

A dearth of words a woman need not fear;

But 'tis a task indeed to learn to hear:

In that the skill of conversation lies;

That shows or makes you both polite and wise. Young, L. F. 5.

But conversation, choose what theme we may,

And chiefly when religion leads the way,

Should flow, like waters after summer show'rs,

Not as if raised by mere mechanic powers. Cowper, Conv.703.

Discourse may want an animated no,

To brush the surface, and to make it flow;

But still remember, if you mean to please,

To press your point with modesty and ease. Cowper, Con. 101.

His talk is like a stream which runs
With rapid change from rock to roses;
He slips from politics to puns,
Passes from Mahomet to Moses;
Beginning with the laws that keep
The planets in their radiant courses,
And ending with some precept deep
For dressing eels or shoeing horses.

Praed, The Vicar.